Heavy Duty Trucking

SEP 2014

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www.truckinginfo.com SEPTEMBER 2014 • HDT 53
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Getting in and out of the truck is a
snap, once you get used to starting
the climb with the left foot rather
than the right. The door swings open
a full 90 degrees.
getting used to for drivers accus-
tomed to conventional-style trucks.
Driving impressions
I love COE trucks so I might be
biased, but this truck handles as well
as a car. The steering is very positive,
although in a tight turn it does feel a
little odd at first to swing out ahead
of the wheels.
I'm not sure which rating of
the PX-7 I drove, but the box was
empty, so I can't truly evaluate the
performance. As it was, it was pretty
peppy. The 6-speed Allison tends to
shift at fairly high rpm, but I could
modulate that by not applying the
throttle quite so aggressively. The
driver display reminded me a couple
of times that I was operating a little
outside of the peak-efficiency range
of the engine.
Backing the truck was easy thanks
to the big windows and the large
mirrors, but I found the mirrors vi-
brated a little at idle. But I'll trade a
little vibration for visibility any day.
Because you sit closer to the
road compared to some conven-
tional trucks, it's more like driving
a pickup truck than a Class 7 truck
— but that's part of the appeal. If
you keep the registered gross weight
down, drivers won't need a CDL,
and that will broaden hiring options
considerably.
There's very little I'd change on
Peterbilt's Model 220. The mirror
mounts could be beefed up a little,
but if they make them too strong,
they might not "breakaway" the
way they are supposed to if they hit
something. And chances are they'll
be hit several times over their lives
working in close quarters. That's a
trade-off I can live with. n